Joint for joining parts of an aerosol-type dispenser

ABSTRACT

A joint for joining parts of an aerosol-type dispensing device having a cap member and a valve assembly with a valve member. The joint has a male joint means on one of said members and a female joint means on the other of said members. The male joint means has a radially extending portion and the female joint means has a radially extending portion. The radially extending portion of the male joint means is engaged over the radially extending portion of the female joint means between the radially extending portion of the female joint means and the member on which the female joint means is positioned, and the radially extending portion of the female joint means is engaged over the radially extending portion of the male joint means between the radially extending portion of the male joint means and the member on which the male joint means is positioned. The cap member and the valve body member are thus tightly connected.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Jean Marand St. Benoit, France [21]Appl. No. 818,569 [22] Filed Apr. 23,1969 [45] Patented July 13,1971[73] Assignee Geigy Chemiml Corporation Greenburgh, N.Y.

[54] JOINT FOR JOINING PARTS 0F AN AEROSOL- TYPE DISPENSER 7 Claims, 3Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 222/136 [51] Int. Cl 867d 5/52 [50] Field of Search 222/1,94, 136, 402.16; 141/20; 287/5206, 109, 115

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,160,182 12/1964 ODonnell141/20 3,318,483 5/1967 Modderno 222/136 Primary Examiner-Stanley HiTollberg Assistant ExaminerJohn P. Shannon, Jr. Attorney-Wenderoth, Lindand Ponack ABSTRACT: A joint for joining parts of an aerosol-typedispensing device having a cap member and a valve assembly with a valvemember. The joint has a male joint means on one of said members and afemale joint means on the other of said members. The male joint meanshas a radially extending portion and the female joint means has aradially extending portion. The radially extending portion of the malejoint means is engaged over the radially extending portion of the femalejoint means between the radially extending portion of the female jointmeans and the member on which the female joint means is positioned, andthe radially extending portion of the female joint means is engaged overthe radially extending portion of the male joint means between theradially extending portion of the male joint means and the member onwhich the male joint means is positioned. The cap member and the valvebody member are thus tightly connected.

JOINT FOR JOINING PARTS OF AN AEROSOL-TYPE DISPENSER This inventionrelates to an aerosol dispenser, and more particularly relates to anaerosol dispenser of the type in which the product to be dispensed iscontained in an outer product container separate from the propellant,the propellant being contained in an inner cartridge within the outercontainer.

I-Ieretofore there have been proposals for providing such an aerosoldispenser having a plug valve assembly which is attached to theunderside ofa cap for the outer or product container. The plug valveassembly includes a valve body which contains a valve mechanism thatduring dispensing controls the flow of the propellant and the product tobe dispensed. The usual form of dispenser has the outer container, thecap, and the valve body formed of one type of plastic. This plastic isusually a somewhat resilient and easily molded plastic. The conventionalmanner of attaching the valve body to the underside of the cap is toprovide a depending portion from the underside of the cap and a matingportion on the top of the valve body. These two portions are broughttogether, and a conventional plastic joining step is carried out, suchas spin welding, sonic welding, or heat sealing. Such steps, however,involve providing special joining equipment, such as welding .apparatus,in order to carry out these steps. Moreover, since these steps arecarried out by an operator of an apparatus of an appropriate type, thejoints are not always uniformly good, one operator sometimes makingbetter or worse joints than another operator. Also, where a heat-sealingstep is used, the heat from the joint can affect the dimensionaltolerances of the adjacent parts to a greater or lesser degree, againdepending to some extent on the skill ofthe operator.

There are also occasions when it would be desirableto have the cap andthe valve body of different plastic materials, for example when thevalve body is integrally joined to a propellant cartridge of a plasticwhich is impervious to the propellant, while the cap is ofa differentplastic which need not be impervious to the propellant. However, whenthe parts are of different plastic materials, they cannot usually bejoined by any of the conventional plastic-joining steps, such as spinwelding or sonic welding.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a construction ofthe cap and the valve body for an aerosol dispenser of the typedescribed above, in which a simple mechanical joint is provided betweenthese parts.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an aerosoldispenser with a cap and valve body which are easily joined by a simplemanipulative movement which does not in volve a plastic-joining step,such as welding.

These objects are accomplished by providing an aerosol dispenserassembly in which the cap has a mating memberdepending from theunderside of the cap, which mating member forms part of a mechanicaljoint, and the valve body of the plug valve assembly has the othermating member of.the mechanical joint on the top thereof. One of themating members is a ring-shaped member having a projecting flangethereon, and the other mating member has a projecting annular collar ora plurality of fingers having projections thereon which engage over theflange on the annular ring-shaped member.

With this construction, it is merely necessary to force the cap and theannular valve body toward each other. The part having the annularring-shaped member with the projecting flange will deform sufficientlyto enable the annular collar to pass the annular flange, and snap overthe annular flange into engagement therewith.

The invention will now be described in greater detail in connection withthe accompanying drawings. in which:

FIG. I is a sectional elevational view of the upper portion of anaerosol dispenser showing the mechanical connection;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion of analternative embodiment of the mechanical connection according to theinvention; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion of a furtherembodiment of the mechanical connection according to the invention.

The aerosol dispenser according to the invention comprises an outercontainer 1 for containing a product to be dispensed, which product isin a fluent form, for example liquid or a finely divided powder. A cap 3is mounted on the outer container 1 at the upper edge 4 of the outercontainer. .The cap 3 has an aperture 3a in the center thereof throughwhich a valve stem 5, to be described below, projects.

Depending from the under surface of the cap 3 is one member of themechanical joint according tothe presentinvention. In the embodiment ofFIG. I, thismember is a female joint means in the shape of an 'ahnularring 6 having an inwardly projecting flange 60 on the lower end thereof.The upper surface of the annular flange 6a is preferably inclinedslightly back toward the cap 3, he. upwardly from the annular ring.

Positioned below the cap 3 is a valve body 7 having a hollow interior 8,and having an opening through the bottom thereof with an annular gasket9 therein. Around the top of the valve body 7 is a mating member of themechanical joint according to the invention. In the embodiment of FIG.1, this mating member is a male joint means in the form of an annularcollar 10 which projects substantially radially outwardly and preferablyhas the lower surface inclined slightly-back toward the valve body, i.e.downwardly from the annular'body 7. The annular collar 10 is tightlyengaged over the inwardly projecting flange 6a on the annular ring 6.

The valve body 7 can be made of one type of plastic, and'the cap 3 anddepending annular ring 6 can be made of the same or a different type ofplastic.

In order to assemble the valve body and the cap, all that is necessaryis to press the valve body 7 upwardly into the annular ring 6. Theannular collar 10 will spread the annular ring6 sufficiently so thatannular collar 10 will pass the inwardly projecting flange 6a, and theflange 6a will snap under the annular collar I0 to hold the valve bodytightly to the cap 3.

The male joint means of the connection, i.e. the annular collar 10 onthevalve body 7, can be placed instead on the cap, so that the annularring depending from the cap has an outwardly projecting annular collarthereon, and the female joint means is placed on the valve body 7 sothat the inwardly extending annular flange 6a is on the valve body.

The remaining elements of the aerosol dispenser comprise a dependingannular flange 11 depending from the valve body 7, to the lower end ofwhich is attached a propellant cartridge 13 having therein a propellant14 which normally is under high pressure in liquid form. In the form ofthe aerosol dispenser shown, the upper edge of the propellant cartridgeI3 is complementary in shape to the lower edge of the downwardly andoutwardly flared portion 12 on the depending flange l1, and the partsare joined integrally with each other, for example by welding. However,any other conventional connection can be used, such as bending the metalwall of a metal cartridge over the edge of the outwardly flared portionwith a seal of some sort between the metal and plastic of the flaredportion.

Clamped between the annular crown 7a around the top of the valve body 7and a downwardly extending projection 3b around the opening 30 in thecap 3 is a ring gasket 15 which acts as a low-pressure obturator for theadmission of air to the product container 1 from outside the dispenser.

The valve stem 5 extends through the hollow interior 8 of the valve body7 and the opening 3a in the cap 3 opens into hollow interior 8. A valveactuator in the form of a pushbutton I6 is mounted on the top end of thevalve stem 5 and contains a nozzle insert 17 having a venturi-type spraynozzle therein. Nozzle insert 17 is set into a cavity in the pushbutton16. The opening 8 in the bottom of the body 7 opens into'the interior ofcartridge I3.

A flange 19 on valve stem 5 is urged upwardly by a spring 20 aroundvalve stem 5. The lower end of spring 20 is held in a cup-shaped portionof a retaining ring 21 in the bottom of the hollow interior 8, and theretaining ring 21 is urged against the high-pressure gasket 9 in thebottom of the hollow interior 8. The retaining ring 21 is held in thebottom of the hollow interior 8 by an annular ring-retaining projection22 projecting into the hollow interior 8 at the upper end of retainingring 21. The spring acts to press the flange 13 upwardly so that theflexible lip of gasket 6 held between a truncated cone-shaped seat 13aon flange 13, cambered as shown, and the annular projection 3b aroundthe edge of opening 3a in cap 3. This provides a tight closure of thehollow interior 8 with respect to opening 30 and a tight closure of apassage 7b which extends through the annular ring 6 into the spacebeneath cap 3. In the raised position shown in FIG. 1, there is a spacebetween inner edge of gasket 15 and the tapered lower end of a dependingwall 13 on the pushbutton. This opens into the channels 24 describedhereinafter.

The pushbutton 16 which caps the valve stem 5 has two coaxial sockets atthe base thereof, an outer socket defined by depending wall 23 and whichfits tightly around valve stem 5, and an inner socket which receives thereduced diameter upper end 50 of stem 5. The extent to which the socketscan be forced along valve stem 5 is limited by an annular shoulder 50 atthe base of the upper end 50 of stem 5. Stem 5 has splines 25 along theoutside thereof defining between them channels 24 along the outside ofthe stem 5. The channels open out of the stem through apertures 26. Theupper end of dip tube 27 opens into the hollow interior 8 and is forcefitted in a bore 27a in body 7 for conducting material to be dispensedinto the hollow interior 8.

Valve stem 5 is made in one piece, for example by molding, and has anaxial bore 28 with a conical head 29 closing the lower end thereof.

At the lower end of the stem 5 is a neck portion having a reduceddiameter portion 290 in which is a plurality of lateral openings 30which, when thevalve stem is in the raised position,-are obturated bythe inner peripheral edge of gasket 9. In the lowered position of thestem 5, the gasket 9 flexes to open openings 30 to admit propellant tothe axial bore 28.

In operation, when the parts of the dispenser are in the position asshown in FIG. 1, the high-pressure propellant in the cartridge 13 isobturated by gasket 9, and the interior of the container 1 is obturatedby gasket 15, thus sealing both the product and the propellant from theouter atmosphere 30.

Depression of the pushbutton 16 flexes both these gaskets, opening theopenings 30 to admit propellant to the bore 28 of the stem, thusaspirating the product to be dispensed through the dip tube 27, thehollow interior 8 past the now downwardly flexed gasket 15, through thepassage 24 and through the apertures in the nozzle insert 17.

An alternative form of the joint is shown in FIG. 2. Depend ing from thecap 3 is a male joint means in the form of an annular ring 32 having awider portion 31a and a narrower inner portion 32b. The portion ofthering 32 between the larger part 32a and the narrower part 32b is beveledoutwardly. Projecting radially outwardly from the lower end of thenarrower inner portion 32b is an annular collar 33. The annular collarpreferably has a blunt pointed lower end 330, both edges of which arebeveled and the upper surface of the annular collar 33 is inclinedupwardly from the inner portion 32b.

On the upper end of the valve body 7 is a female joint means in the formof a plurality of upwardly projecting fingers 34, each having at theupper end thereof radially inwardly projecting portions 34a. The undersurfaces are preferably inclined downwardly from the fingers. Preferablythe upper ends of the finger 34 are beveled inwardly of the valve body 7so that they are complementary in shape to the outwardly beveled portionof ring 32.

The fingers 34 are preferably spaced equidistantly around the peripheryof the annular body 7. while the ring 32 is a complete ring.

Since fingers 34 are provided, the fingers will be sufficientlyresiliently movable in the radial direction to pass over the annularcollar 33 and snap over this collar and into engagement therewith. Theinwardly beveled upper ends of the fingers will be wedged outwardly bythe beveled portion of the lower end of the annular collar 33, thusassisting in the spreading of the fingers 34.

It will, of course, be understood that the relative positions of thecollar and the fingers could be reversed, i.e. the ring could beradially outwardly of the fingers and have the collar projectinginwardly and the projecting portions of the fingers could projectoutwardly.

A further embodiment is shown in FIG. 3, the embodiment being generallyupside down from that shown in FIG. 2, namely the male joint means ofthe joint is on the valve body 7 while the female joint means is on thecap 3. The cap 3 has an annular ring 30 depending therefrom, anddepending from the lower portion of the ring 40 is the female jointmeans in the form of a plurality of fingers 41 having inwardlyprojecting portions 410 thereon. The inner edge of the inwardlyprojecting portions 410 is inwardly beveled at 41b.

The valve body 7 has on the upper portion thereofa male joint member inthe form of an outwardly projecting annular collar 42, and the surfaceof the valve body above the annular collar 42 is beveled outwardly asshown at 43.

Because of the provision of the fingers 41, when the valve body 7 isurged upwardly against the fingers 41, the beveled surface 43 will urgethe fingers 41 outwardly as it slides along the beveled edge 41h. Thiswill spread the fingers sufficiently to enable the annular collar 42 tosnap over the inwardly projecting portion 41a into engagement with themember 40. It will, of course be understood that, as with the embodimentof FIG. 2, the relative positions of the collar and the fingers could bereversed with the collar projecting inwardly over the outwardlyprojecting portions on the fingers.

It will thus be seen that there has been provided a mechanical jointbetween the cap and the valve body which is simple, yet is such that thevalve body and the cap can be made of different plastics which cannot bejoined by such conventional methods as welding, heat sealing, etc. Theengagement between the parts is sufficiently tight to hold the valvebody and the remainder of the plug valve assembly firmly to the cap. Thearrangement also makes easy the positioning of the low-pressureobturator gasket 15 between the parts of the joint, and the joint willhold this obturator firmly in position during the operation of thedispensing device. Since the connection is purely mechanical, thevariations in the quality of welded or heat-sealed joints introduced bythe operators are eliminated, and no heat is used which will tend todestroy the dimensional tolerances of the various parts.

I claim:

1. A joint for joining parts of an aerosol-type dispensing device havinga cap-member and a valve assembly with a valve body member, said jointcomprising a male joint means on one of said members and a female jointmeans on the other of said members, one of said joint means being anannular ring having a radially extending flange and the other jointmeans being a plurality of fingers each having a radially extendingprojection with the radially extending flange of the one joint meansengaged over the radially extending projections on the other joint meansbetween the radially extending projections on the other joint means andthe member on which the other joint means is positioned, and theradially extending projections on the other joint means being engagedover the radially extending flange on the one joint means between theradially extending flange of the one joint means and the member on whichthe one joint means is positioned, whereby the cap member and the valvebody member are tightly connected.

2. A joint as claimed in claim 1 in which the male joint means is on thecap and the female joint means is on the valve body.

3. A joint as claimed in claim 2 in which said male joint means is theone joint means and the radially extending flange is an outwardlyextending flange on the lower end of the annular ring, and said femalejoint means is the other joint means and the radially extendingprojections are inwardly extending projections on the upper ends of thefingers.

4. A joint as claimed in claim 2 in which said male joint means is theother joint means and the radially extending projections are outwardlyextending projections on the lower ends of the fingers, and said femalejoint means is the one joint means and the radially extending flange isan inwardly extending flange on the upper end ofthe annular ring.

5. A joint as claimed in claim 1 in which the female joint means is onthe cap and the male joint means is on the valve body.

6 A joint as claimed in claim 5 in which said male joint means is theone joint means and the radially extending flange is an outwardlyextending flange on the upper end of the annular ring, and said femalejoint means is the other joint means and the radially extendingprojections are inwardly extending projections on the lower ends ofthefingers.

7. A joint as claimed in claim 5 in which said male joint means is theotherjoint means and the radially extending projections are outwardlyextending projections on the upper ends of the fingers, and said femalejoint means is the one joint means and the radially extending flange isan inwardly extending flange on the lower end of the annular ring.

1. A joint for joining parts of an aerosol-type dispensing device havinga cap member and a valve assembly with a valve body member, said jointcomprising a male joint means on one of said members and a female jointmeans on the other of said members, one of said joint means being anannular ring having a radially extending flange and the other jointmeans being a plurality of fingers each having a radially extendingprojection with the radially extending flange of the one joint meansengaged over the radially extending projections on the other joint meansbetween the radially extending projections on the other joint means andthe member on which the other joint means is positioned, and theradially extending projections on the other joint means being engagedover the radially extending flange on the one joint means between theradially extending flange of the one joint means and the member on whichthe one joint means is positioned, whereby the cap member and the valvebody member are tightly connected.
 2. A joint as claimed in claim 1 inwhich the male joint means is on the cap and the female joint means ison the valve body.
 3. A joint as claimed in claim 2 in which said malejoint means is the one joint means and the radially extending flange isan outwardly extending flange on the lower end of the annular ring, andsaid female joint means is the other joint means and the radiallyextending projections are inwardly extending projections on the upperends of the fingers.
 4. A joint as claimed in claim 2 in which said malejoint means is the other joint means and the radially extendingprojections are outwardly extending projections on the lower ends of thefingers, and said female joint means is the one joint means and theradially extending flange is an inwardly extending flange on the upperend of the annular ring.
 5. A joint as claimed in claim 1 in which thefemale joint means is on the cap and the male joint means is on thevalve body.
 6. A joint as claimed in claim 5 in which said male jointmeans is the one joint means and the radially extending flange is anoutwardly extending flange on the upper end of the annular ring, andsaid female joint means is the other joint means and the radiallyextending projections are inwardly extending projections on the lowerends of the fingers.
 7. A joint as claimed in claim 5 in which said malejoint means is the other joint means and the radially extendingprojections are outwardly extending projections on the upper ends of thefingers, and said female joint means is the one joint means and theradially extending flange is an inwardly extending flange on the lowerend of the annular ring.